Digitalising Freight Transport in the eFTI Network

eFTI

eFTI (electronic Freight Transport Information) is a unified European Union framework that requires the authorities of member states to accept freight transport data in digital form. Put simply, eFTI removes paper consignment notes from the supply chain and replaces them with secure, standardised data exchange. In practice, this means a transition to a digital model where paperless logistics relies on standardised data models, secure data exchange and high-performance systems.

Pikker's Role in eFTI

In cooperation with the Digital Logistics Centre (Digilogistika Keskus), we have contributed to the implementation of the eFTI framework through both hands-on software development and technical consulting. The Digital Logistics Centre leads the development of digital logistics and eFTI in Estonia and has brought us in to build and test the EU-wide eFTI ecosystem. We take part in several international projects, such as eFTI4EU, eFTI4ALL and eFTI4LIVE, all of which focus on rolling out eFTI solutions across member states. Our team has focused on developing and integrating critical eFTI components.

Rewriting the eFTI Gate

The eFTI gate is the central node of the whole architecture: it connects logistics platforms with the authorities of member states and enables cross-border data exchange.

The gate's speed is critical because a search query is sent to all other gates at once (broadcast), and it is also the most frequent type of query. Every such query is multiplied by the number of member states, so the total volume of requests grows very large. The faster the gate responds, the more requests it can handle, i.e. the higher its throughput.

When we started developing the eFTI gate, an initial reference implementation had already been created for the project. While adapting it, however, we quickly realised that the solution's excessive complexity limited both the system's sustainability and its performance. To ensure speed and reliability, we decided to rewrite the eFTI gate completely. We wrote the backend in Kotlin, using the lightweight Klite framework and Svelte.

We chose Klite primarily for its low resource usage and speed. The framework has few dependencies and little hidden logic, which keeps the system simple and easy to modify. At this query volume, every intermediate layer is a noticeable cost.

The biggest speed gain came from integrating the standardised eDelivery AS4 data exchange protocol directly into the gate, without separate intermediary software (e.g. Domibus or Harmony), which is normally required to use this protocol. In cross-country testing, we achieved over 700,000 requests in 15 minutes (833 req/sec), which is several times faster than the earlier reference architecture, whose maximum capability was 10 requests per second.

The EU's Official Test Environment

A prerequisite for working international data exchange is a reliable test environment where different countries can connect their systems and verify compatibility. Within the eFTI4ALL project, the Digital Logistics Centre entrusted Pikker with the technical support and further development of the EU's official test environment.

To date, 11 countries have been connected and tested in the test environment (including Germany, France, Finland, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg and Italy).

Baltic corridor pilot project with Latvia (source)